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Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Justice

National Prosecution OfficeCity Prosecution Office. Olongapo City

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Complalnan t,

-versus- LS. No. OS-N-1999

For: Rape

L. Cpl. Daniel J. Smith, L.Cpl. Keith Silkwood, L. Cpl.Dominic Duplantis, L. Cpl.Albert Lara, Cpl. CoreyBurris and SI Sgt~ ChadCarpentier. .

'..- Respo'hdents.X ~~ x

COUNTER-AFFIDAVIT

I, L. CPL. KEITH SILKWOOD, 22 years old, an American,

with postal address cjo the ,Embassy of the United States of

America, Roxas Boulevard, Manila, hereby depose and say

that:

1. I am a member of the United States Marine Corps,

which participated in the recent RP-USjoint military exercises

at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Olongapo City.

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2: I did not rape or molest the Gomp1ain#..t-, "'.

- (hereinafterreferredto as' the Comp1ainal'lt).Neither,did I witness the said, Complainant being raped or molested at

any time.

3. There is no truth to the charges being leveled at me."

The statements of the Comp1aiD:a:ntand her witnesses are full

of lies and half-truths obviously meant to' prop up and

strengthen the fabricated charges, as will be! shovnl

hereunder:

a. In the even~ng of 01 .November 2005, I,

\ .' together with L.Cpl.~Dominic Duplantis (hereinafter

referted to as Duplantis) and L.Cpl. Daniel Smith

(hereinafter referred to as Smith) went to the i

Neptune Club from another bar, I believe it was

Dewey's Bar.

b. When we got to the Neptune Club, we saw a lot

of friends from the ship and everyone was having a

good time. I believe we arrived there sometime

between 9:45 and 10:00 p.m. While there, all we

did was drink some more 'and dance. I was not

paying attention if Smith was drinking.

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c. At some point, Staff Sergeant Chad ~pentier, "', '.

(hereinafter referred to as S/ Sgt. Carpentier),showed. ,

up to give us a ride back to the ship. He asked me

where everyone was at because it was time for us to

get back to the ship for curfew. I then went arourid

the bar and the dance floor trying to get everyone

together.

d. I found everyone but L.Cpl. Albert Lara, USMC

(hereinafter referred to as Lara), and Cpl. Corey

Burris, USMC (hereinafter referred to as Burris).

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They apparently left to get something to eat. I found

Smith sitting on a chair with a Filipino female

sitting on his lap, whom I later found out to be the

Complainant. Complainant was slouched, leaning

against him with her back against his chest. I told

Smith that we had to go and the driver, Jun was

here.

e. I saw SmHh start to stand up when I left to

find the S/ Sgt. Carpentier. We all left the bar at the

same time.

f. The last ones to leave were Smith and the

Complainant. They were walking side by side.

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When everybody was in the van, SISgt," CarP~ntier.\ ,.. I

jumped in the front, Duplantis and 1 were "in the

middle seat. ,I observed Smith and the Complainant

get into the back seat. I do not know why she got in

but I believe it was because she did not want to say

good -bye.

g. After they got in, we started moving, Smlth

and the Complainant were in the back kissing. 1

knew this was going on because 1 could hear them.

.' h. At no time ~id I hear the Complainant tell

i~Smith to stop and I did not hear or see any sign of a

struggle. Also, neither I nor anyone else in the vanI

cheered. When we approached the Yellow Cab Pizza I

Parlor, we saw. Burris and Lara walking and'"

carrying a pizza in the direction of the ship.

1. We stopped and they approached the van. I

believe they opened the side door. 1 talked with them

(Burris and Lara) about the pizza and how we had to

get back to the ship soon to meet curfew, 1 believe

since the backseat was full (with Smith and the

Complainant) and Duplantis and I were in the

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Il middle seat, they figured it would be easie; ~ust to. it. I

walk, which they did.

J. The van then started moving again. While we

were movlng, I could hear Smith and the

Complainant talking.

k. Duplantis and I were the first ones out. Smith

and the Complainant followed us.

1. As soon as Duplantis, Smith, Complainant and

myself were out, the van immediately pulled away.

~m. At that time, there were a lot of people walking

around, mostly older civilian men. Smith then

'started to holler down a taxi. While he was doing

so, I kept telling Duplantis (who was drunk) that we

had to go back to the ship (to meet curfew).

Duplantis and I started moving toward the ship

while Smith was trying to get a taxi. Smith

eventually caught up with us. He told us then that

that he could not get her a taxi. He did not say if

she was upset and I did not ask.

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'n. While we walked back to the ship, we:iocused. ,.. I

on making sure Duplantis got back okay. At some

point, I told him (Smith) to go ahead and let them

know we were coming. When we got to the ship, he

was there waiting for us.

0; By the time we got. to the ship, we were a

couple of minutes late. A GjSgt. (gunny)

reprimanded us and we went up to berthing. At no

time did Smith talk to us about the Complainant

that night.

\" p. While the Complainant was in the van, I never

laid a hand on her.

q. Regarding the Complainant, she appeared to

me to have been drinking beers throughout the

night but she appeared to be in control. Among us,

Duplantis was the drunkest.

4. From the above narration and from the allegations

in the complaint itself, it is clear that there was no "gang rape"

committed here.

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l '5. In the affidavit of the Complainant-. herself, the'. ~.

folloWihg is provided,. to wit: '" ,

"3. T: sa nong dahilan at ikaw ngayon

ay narito sa tanggapan ng llO, SBMA at nagbigay ng

. salaysay? why are you here at the

Intelligence and Investigation Office of the SBMA

giving your statement?)

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S: Para magreklamo po tungkol sa Sexual

Assault/ Abuse na ginawa sa akin kagabi nang

isang U.S. servieemember. (To complai,n about the

Sexual Assault/Abuse conuni,tted upon me last

. night by one U.S. servicemember)" [Translation,\

. ours]

6. Thus, by the narration of the Complainant herself,

she claims to have been assaulted by only "one (1)" person,.

whose identity she has even failed to ascertain.

7. This may be gathered from the 8Ifidavit of the

Complainant, which provides:

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«21. T: Maari mo ba itong i-describe at sa pap.nong. ..

'par-ban mo siya nakilala? (Can you describe and tell ,(us) how you met this person?)

s: May lsa pong servicemember na

nakipagsayaw sa akin. "Gerald" 0 «Genard" po ang

parigalan niiJang naibigay sa akin. Matangkad po

siyaJ maputi) blonde 'hair) katamtaman ang laki hg

katawan) matangos ang ilongJ pagitan ng 20-23 ang

taong gulang." (A servicemember danced with me.

The name he gave was Gerald or Genard. He was

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tall, white, had blonde hair, was of medium built,

had a straight nose and was between the ages of 20

to 23)." [Translation, ours].

8. Notably, nowhere In the statements of the

Complainant and her witnesses can it be inferred that the

Complainant was forced to ride the van.

9. To conclude or even speculate that the Complainant

was "gang raped" would require one to stretch his imagination

beyond the realm of reason and fa,irness.

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10. Significantly, the allegation that the :Qomplainant\ H. I . ... ,

was carried like a pig and left on the pavement, is -a blatant lie.

11. Such act would have been the height of

imprudence, considering that there were many p'eople,

marines and civilians, at the drop-off point where we all

alighted from the van.

12. If indeed we had committed a crime, the presence of

so many people who could have identified us would have

deterred us from disposing of the object thereof, in full view of

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the public and in such away as to attract unwanted attention.

In other words, if we had raped the Complainant, we would

not have dropped her. off in the presence of so many persons

or would be witnesses.

13. Also, the very same statement that the Complainant

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was "carried like a pig" (binuhat na parang bab.oy) found on

two (2) different affidavits given by two (2) different persons,

runs contrary to the normal course of things for it is unlikely

that two (2) unrelated persons viewing the event/ act from

different perspectives, would describe said event/ act in the

same exact way.

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14. Furthermore, in the I;tffidavitbf Ma. Fe-"Castro, one'- ~,

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of Complainant's witnesses, she- claims, «Napansin ko po na~"

,may bumaba na isang Negro mula sa van. Sumunod po ang

tatlong US service member na Caucasian, at may buhat buhat

na isang babae, na fila 0 parang lango sa alcohol (0 anupaman)

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x.xx"(I noticed that "a Negro alighted from"'the van. Mter him,"-"

three Caucasian' US service members followed carrying a

woman who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or

some other substance.) [Translation, ours]

15. Whereas, in the affidavit of Timoteo Soriano, Jr., he

claims, "xxx at hawaknitong sina Smith, Borris na isang Negro

'at iyong dalawa pa,'if1ilang kasama na hindi ko alam ang

pangalan ay binuhat itong si-na parang baboy xxx"

(Smith, Burris, and two other men whose names, I 40 not

know carried the Complainant like a pig.) [Translation, ours].

16. Thus, in the affidavit of Castro "three (3) Caucasian

service members" carried the Complainant and left her on the

pavement, whereas in Soriano's affidavit, there were four (4)

people who carried the Complainant - Burris, Smith and two

(2) white men.".~ , ,'-'""""'.". '~.

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.17. To confuse matters, some more, Fe Qastro in her. "', ,

supplemental affidavit submitted on November"23, 2005,

claims, ((Hinawakan. ng lalaking PUTl na naka ((blue-colored

shirt" ang paa ng babae at may isa pang lalaki na PUTl rin

mula sa van ang humawak sa may braso nito, naka. ((light-

colored shirt" na puti, payat at halos hanggang balikat lang ng

naka ((blue-colored shirt" x x x Ibinaba ng dalawang puti ang

babae sa parking lot malapit sa aming nakapark na sasakyan".

(One white male wearing a blue colored shirt held the woman

on her feet and another white male also from the van held her

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somewhere on her arm, he was wearing a light colored shirt

and stood only at shoulder height of the white male wearing a

blue colored shirt.) [Translation, ours].

-18. Now, contrary to her first statement, Fe Castro

claims that the Complainant was carried not anymore by three

(3), but by two (2) white males.

19. These serious and irreconcilable inconsistencies

only prove that these witnesses are lying. Be that as it may, if

indeed the Complainant was carried like. a pig, as her

witnesses claim she was, then tfle Complainant herself would

have mentioned it in her affidavit.

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20. From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that no rape,\ ... J

whether individually or in conspiracy with others, was ever

committed.

21. There is neither legal nor factual basis for the

.. criminal complaint for rape filed by the Complainant against

us, particularly with reference to myself. Thus,. the said

complaint should be dismissed.

25 November 2005, Manila

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L. CPL. KEITH SILKWOOD

SUBSCRIBED-;? 5 NOV2005

AND

at

SWORN TO before

(',TTVOF MANm'A'

me, this

I hereby certify that I have examined the affiant and I am

satisfied that he executed the foregoing voluntarily and freely

and they fully understood its contents.

". . ., "t\""OR)t)I\r",,!'"If'Cc;U\A: ';"

~AJ:i'rif~ i'~';i~~tlfic er

silkwood-4a/mlv-44 / emu